Something must have said, "Just do it."
Federal authorities have allegedly smashed open a black market sneaker scheme out of Nike headquarters where stolen sample shoes were being peddled around the country for as much as $20,000 a pair.
A criminal investigation into the alleged large-scale theft of thousands of Nike shoes called Look Sees ended with allegations of theft by a Nike employee, his alleged middle man and charges against their accused Florida reseller.
According to a criminal complaint
obtained by the Smoking Gun, Oregon Nike product manager Tung Ho, 35, raked in tens of thousands of dollars while secretly ordering the highly coveted shoes directly from Nike's factory in China.
The sample shoes, whose numbers are described as extremely limited for a particular design which often never hits stores, have been seen sold from $1,000 to more than $20,000 each, according to a federal investigator.
Authorities say Ho was fully aware of this lucrative supply and demand scheme, and consequently turned to former Nike manager Kyle Yamaguchi, 33, as a middleman in selling samples he'd order.
In turn, federal authorities say Yamagucho would sell the shoes to 35-year-old Jason Keating, who would peddle them to small boutiques and shops around the U.S. for astonishing profits.
In four months alone, 13 checks sent by Yamaguchi to Ho totaled $104,000, according to bank records cited in the affidavit.
Keating was arrested Wednesday and charged with receiving stolen property. Ho and Yamaguchi have not been arrested, pending the investigation's outcome, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the affidavit, Nike's director of security first tipped off Washington County detectives to the leaking of Look See shoes on Feb. 14.
Authorities cited surveillance video as recording Ho receiving the shoes at Nike's headquarters from China and packing them into a gym bag. That bag, they said, was later taken to his car and driven to a self-storage facility.
When authorities searched his home on March 14, they reported finding 1,941 pairs of Nike shoes, along with "a large sum of United States currency."
While taking him into custody he allegedly admitted to stealing the shoes and selling them not just through Yamaguchi but on eBay as well.
Yamaguchi, who was interviewed by detectives on March 20, allegedly admitted to pocketing 20 percent of the shoes' profits as commission.